Thread on another forum talking about family guns made me want to dig my old thread up.  It's archived now, so I thought I'd repost because I'm in a sentimental mood and I think some of yall will enjoy it/have similar stories and memories.  I hope so, anyway.

If I lined up every single gun in my house and asked someone to pick out the most valuable one in the group, I'm not sure anyone would grace the correct rifle with anything more than a cursory glance. After all, compared to the modern rifles or handguns I own, it looks a little bedraggled. The finish is scratched and worn in places, and you can find a nick or ding in the wood stock in more than one spot. There is nothing rare or unique about this firearm that makes it worth a lot of money to a collector, and you can still find them selling regularly online at auctions sites for reasonable prices. So why is this the most valuable gun? Because this Savage 99 is more than just an interesting old rifle. This is my grandfather's gun.




The Savage Model 99 is a fascinating gun, and I could spend the whole post just talking about all of the neat features these old guns have. Since this isn't about the Savage 99 in general but my specific rifle, I'll just link you to this article on the Savage 99. To quote from the article: "the Savage 99 is a genius of a rifle that epitomizes the best in American craftsmanship, creativity, and originality. Although no longer produced it remains highly revered, as it was the foundation from which Arthur Savage built one of America's great gun companies."




Like most people who own pieces of family firearm history, I can't tell the story of this rifle without telling the story of my grandfather's life. He grew up the son of poor farmers in the Texas Panhandle during the Dust Bowl. He was too young to serve in WW2, but graduated high school early at age 17 and went down to Texas A&M at the encouragement of a high school gym teacher in 1946. My grandfather loved sports and had thought about being a coach, so he tried out for the football team when he got down to A&M. Growing up a farm kid in the panhandle can make you tough, but 4 years of fighting in Europe and Asia tends to toughen guys up just a little bit more. My 17 year old grandfather was trying out against 22-26 year old combat veterans, and didn't quite make the cut.

His time at A&M instilled in him a great love of the school, and a lifelong love of Aggie football despite being cut from the team. He had season tickets and loved going to the games, and my dad posting a picture of him on another forum prompted this response from a man who had the tickets to their right for almost 20 years:

" I had the pleasure of sitting to your Dad's right since 1991 and I remember your mother well. I recognized your Dad from your pictures right away. Your Dad was a wonderful man and we miss him, even though we only met during a game or two per season....Your Dad and I would share our concerns about how the game was playing out, but I always knew that things were serious when he started humming Aggie Band music. I would cuss my head off, bellow at Slocum from the second deck, but he was in this Zen-meets-Panhandle-Farmer peace and I remain jealous to this day.

The last time I saw your Dad was at a night game in 2009. Everyone in our section missed your parents in the 2010 season. We were all afraid age had caught up last season when unfamiliar people took their seats. Please tell your mother that the large man who sat next to them grieves for your loss and wishes her the best as do about a dozen good Aggies who sat around them.

I got to spend an afternoon a year with your parents for almost twenty years and I am a better person for it. "


After college, he married my grandmother and they moved to Hale county in Texas and began farming in 1951. Sometime during that year, he had gone hunting with a neighbor who had a lot of guns, including this Model 99. He told the neighbor that if he ever wound up selling it, to give him a call first and he'd buy it. Later that year, the neighbor bought some fancy new rifle, and sold the 99 to him.


This Model 99 is chambered in .300 Savage and was built in 1950. My grandfather really enjoyed hunting, and this 99 was used primarily to hunt elk in Colorado, and for deer hunting in Texas. When it wasn't hunting, this rifle sat in a glass display case in my grandparents house (key left in the lock) for as far back as I can remember.

My grandfather passed away Christmas morning, 2011. My dad, after seeing the huge amount of effort it took to deal with 80+ years of accumulated things, decided to pass this rifle on to the next generation now so I am currently in possession of my grandfather's rifle. I can't really use the words "I own", because I will always be nothing more than a steward of my grandfather's rifle and his legacy for the next generation. He was well loved and respected by his friends and family, and this rifle is a reminder for me to try and live up to his example. I cannot wait to show my own children "granddad's rifle", and tell them about his life.

Thanks for reading such a long post about a man yall don't know. I'm sure a lot of us have similar stories and similar guns with family history, so I thought yall might enjoy hearing about mine....to end, one picture of him with his gun:

God bless

Thanks yall.

When I put this thread up in early 2013, someone posted a song that is one of my favorites now.  Doesn't quite fit my story because I have lots of great memories with my granddad, but it's still an outstanding song.

Thank you for sharing this OP.  We need more stories like this.

Very nice, thank you for sharing.  Some day I will get a 99, I have always enjoyed them and they handle and point really well.
My grandfather was missing an eye and a hand from farming and later in his life he was in a wheel chair.  There was a home nurse that came by everyday and took care of him and she brought some guys back one evening and they beat him up in his wheel chair and stole all my grandpa's guns.

Very cool OP










 

What they said /\.......I know my grandfather sounds just like yours, and to this day I always think about what my grandfather would say/think/do whenever I have to say/think/do...

Damn that's awful.  

My grandad was a cotton farmer for over 50 years.   We have lots of family friends missing fingers/hands/arms from farming accidents....that old equipment was dangerous.  

His hobby later in life was restoring tractors.  From the time I could reach the pedals, I didn't watch parades....I was in them, driving one of his 40+ old tractors.

Not sure what year this is, but probably some time in the 90s.  Just in case it isn't clear, that's my grandad driving, not me.  

Awesome.

I never knew either of my Granpa's so I didn't inherit anything from them.


My Grandkids, however, are going to have a fucking blast!

Where is the first photo of your Grandfather taken?

Gig 'Em!

North of Lubbock up in the panhandle.  God's country.  

My dad is from Sundown.

Nice.

Their land is about the same distance from Lubbock as Sundown, but north instead of west.  He farmed in Hale County from 1950 on.

Threads like these make me happy.  Thanks for (re)posting.  I have an old Springfield bolt action 22LR tube fed that was my grandpa's.  All the rest got divided among other relatives whom also appreciate firearms.

Funny thing....I just went through my late grandfathers safe and came across the same exact rifle. Thanks for sharing.

Great story.
I hope to have a Savage some day also.
I wish my grandpa had lived to tell me how he got the guns he had, and how he used them, but he passed suddenly, when I was just getting curious many years ago.

Didn't care for the Savage 99 when I was young. Kinda shows I wasn't very bright back then.  Your GF's 99 is the better one with the integral brass magazine too.  In my days it was a detachable box magazine.

Nice!





Yours (Well, your Grandfathers ) Rifle is actually pretty rare... in that it looks like amazingly it's not D&T'd for a scope!





Thing s in outstanding condition it looks like!  .300 Sav is still around, hope you shoot the hell out of it!  





I have my Dad's 99 (.250-3000).  They are incredible guns to shoot, IMHO the apex of leveractions.

Awesome story.

Makes me want a 99.

Thanks for sharing.

I have family in that area in a little town called Sudan. Loved going there as a kid.

Dads' 300 Savage is in his gunroom unused since we were on a one night drunken Javelina hunt in 1975 or so, only time I ever carried it. I don't remember ever shooting it. He is 81 and will likely outlive me.

Driven through Sudan many times driving from Portales to Lubbock.  I think there's an Allsups on the south side of the road as you drive through town.

Yea, the terrain is flat and it's not very scenic, but that part of Texas has a certain appeal to it.  The dust storms are certainly interesting to experience in the Spring when the wind blows and moves all that topsoil.

Nova, was this your grandfather on your dad's side?

The Panhandle...the starkness will thrill your soul and the weather will break your heart.

Flatwoods in Hubert, NC had a pre-war .250 Savage Model 99 that I wanted with a passion, but it was on consignment for $1400.00, and I thought it was a bit steep-it was the "fancy" model without the Schnabel forend tip, and was in 99% condition with one side of the receiver flat faded as if it had been exposed to the sun in a window display or something.  Of course, that wasn't the case because the wood wasn't faded, but it was strange none the less.  Still, it was beautiful with its dark walnut stock and forend.

My favorite 99s have the safety on the lever, instead of the later models that had them on the tang.  

Cabela's had one of the later Model 99s in .308 sitting on the used gun rack a couple of months ago.  It had hardwood furniture, but the safety was the older style, and didn't have a detachable magazine.  It didn't last long, although it was up there in price at almost $500.00.  It had NOT been drilled and tapped for a scope mount, and didn't have a recoil pad installed (two things I look to avoid in a used firearm).

Jack O'Conner liked the Savage 99 very much, and he used Stith mounts when he mounted an optical sight on one.  

Personally, I prefer a tang aperture sight over any other sight for the '99.

Yes, it was.

Yes, I still shoot it on occasion, and you're right that it was never drilled and tapped.  He always had good eyesight and never had trouble bringing down a deer with irons.

I agree with you on the guns...they're well balanced, well made, and great shooters.  I'll probably try to buy more of them before they get hard to find, but this one will always be my favorite, for obvious reasons.

IIRC, that .250-3000 was the first US cartridge that had a velocity over 3000 fps, correct?  Neat round.  The .300 Savage is a good round too, and I wouldn't feel uncomfortable shooting at distance or taking game with it today.  

Oh man.

I'd have to think that if that happened to my grandfather, that would be a time where I'd arm myself, disappear for a few days on a mission and return back home when I was done, with no one asking where I've been or what I've been doing.

Cool thread, 74.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing

In before the mindless fuck heads start with the Fudd gun statements.

An excellent post and an awesome rifle.  

One day I need to do the same for my great granddad's Marlin.

$500, they are going for 900 to 1100 for most of the ones I have seen recently, Cabelas Anchorage has one on the rack I saw yesterday for $900 I believe. $500 would be a real bargain imo.

 

Aaron Lewis Granddaddy's Gun

Great post.  My Grandfather's 99 in .308 is the only gun in the safe I truly care about.  In Dad's possession now.

Very nice story.

Thanks

Epic

Those .300 Savages are really fun to shoot, and dead accurate.


My buddy has one, not as pretty as yours, but still in good condition. Its a pretty neat cartridge, though you don't hear much about it anymore.

My grandfather's Krag came to me.  I sold the Krag I already had since I didn't need two.  The old man's sporterized Krag will stay in the family.

ETA My Grandfather and his brothers bought rifles through the NRA when they started deer hunting during the great depression.

Yup, .250-3000 is a zippy little guy.



.300 Savage is actually a really awesome round, it's like .308 Winchester light (.300 Sav was the genesis for 7.62x51).   Weight for weight is only 150-200 FPS slower, which short range really doesn't matter.





 

.308 pretty much replaced it.

I'm just glad I can still find ammo.

Nice gun. Good story.

Neat!

Great story and a beautiful rifle

He sounds like neat man.  Thanks for posting this OP.  I'm sure he'd be pleased and proud that you're the steward of his old rifle.

Thanks for posting.

Your grandfather was a hell of a man. The picture of him, the background looks familiar. You wouldn't happen to be from the Floydada, Plainview, Lubbock, Levelland area would you?

I hope there's a special place in Hell for scumbags like that.

I would indeed.